Clearing Up Coffee Confusion

So I’m 9 months pregnant and oh the looks I get when I’m carrying a cardboard, steaming cup. It’s coffee folks! You’d think I was walking around with a bottle of Jack Daniels in broad daylight. And how do YOU know it’s not decaf? Well, chances are it’s not... but that’s not the point. I must thank you, little old lady with the snide comment, for the blog influence :)!


So - coffee - good? Bad? "Moderation - huh?” Here’s the latest.


Aside from comments and looks during pregnancy, I also get clients and acquaintances alike who’ve chosen to make the “big step” of cutting out coffee. Then expect a pat on the back for it. Poor you. That’s about all I can offer. Life must suck now! Lol.


We’ve lumped coffee drinking in with unhealthy habits like drunkenness and smoking. We view the strung out, sunken-eyed, over-worked employee with a cigarette in one hand and coffee in the other as one of those “unhealthy coffee drinkers.” Looks more like a Meth addict if you ask me.


So here’s the bottom line... all recent, credible findings suggest, COFFEE drinking offers no serious detrimental health effects. In fact, if you want to improve your health, its better to focus on other lifestyle factors like, ummmm, weight loss, exercise, increasing fiber, eliminating all recreational drugs, etc ;) - instead of avoiding coffee, which can actually be helpful to your health.


Well, that’s moderate amounts right? Sure, if SIX cups a day is moderate – that’s the established upper tolerable limit – or the equivalent of about 600 mg. Its about 2 Starbucks, Grande black brew or 6 (8oz) cups of “Folgers.”


It doesn’t mean your latest high calorie “coffee concoction” either. The excessive calories will do more harm over time than the minute amount of coffee you MAY be getting somewhere under the whipped cream. And not ALL forms of caffeine, are created equal - Coffee is very complex.


Why the flip-flopping over the years? Well, we’ve just recently been able to isolate the hundreds of compounds in coffee and other potential lifestyle factors that cloud results - like lack of exercise and smoking (two things that are common with heavy coffee drinking).


Although not a miracle food, coffee can protect against Type 2 Diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, liver cancer, and liver cirrhosis. It can help with focus and thinking. New findings regarding cardiovascular benefits are currently being studied – but early findings look good there too!


Now for pregnancy. Caffeine crosses the placenta, to the fetus (unlike Sucralose and Aspartame hgm hgmmm – sorry I couldn’t resist). The fetus is very sensitive to caffeine  (because it's teeny tiny) and metabolizes it very, very slowly. The position statement of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as Harvard researchers, recommend less than 200 mg of caffeine a day during pregnancy (8 oz of caffeinated tea and a 12 oz soda have about 50mg, and 8 oz of coffee has about 100 mg).

If you have HTN and are having trouble getting your blood pressure down, try switching to decaf (for some coffee benefits without the caffeine) and see if that makes a difference. But there is no need to simply cut it out unless its posing a problem. 


Also, brew/drip vs. french press/boiling is the preferred method of prep because of a compound called cafestol that is filtered out. When left in, it can affect your LDL (bad cholesterol). Espresso falls somewhere in the middle (some cafestol is filtered out, but not all).


Tea offers DIFFERENT benefits than coffee and recent studies have confirmed that tea is still not nearly as beneficial as coffee. This could be because U.S. tea is much weaker than other countries’ tea and coffee, or it could simply be due to a lack of study in this area.


So...


Starbucks anyone?

Nourishment and Nostalgia vs. Guilt and Gluttony

I recently spoke about emotions surrounding food and the misuse of food for anything but nourishment or nostalgia.  The Holidays are Food Suicide.  Not only are we surrounded by amazing food this time of year, but we are typically with, or reminded of, ones who may cause us to misuse food for emotional purposes to begin with.  I ended the presentation with this Holiday Food Filter, that will hopefully weed out unnecessary calories and put you one step closer to appropriately viewing and consuming food in the new year!    

HOLIDAY FOOD FILTER:

What is the purpose of this food?

Are you legitimately hungry?  If so, eat a substantial meal. You will consume a lot more calories, before recognizing said hunger, than if you were to eat a quality meal and follow it up with a serving of something yummy.  No grazing on chocolate-peanut buttery goodness.  Fill up on the turkey, then enjoy the goodness.  

Is this food simply providing nostalgia - grandma’s famous _________ ? Which is okay!  Food should provide pleasure, and bring back fun memories.  However, how many other foods today have provided nostalgia?  Can you hold off until tomorrow when you have a fresh set of calories to pull from? Thanksgiving never lasts for one meal, or even one day!  We’re spoiled rotten.  Don’t kid yourselves, you’ll be eating left-overs all week!  So spread it out.  Fit a little, portion controlled, nostalgic food into each day.  Remember, the goal is weight maintenance during the Holidays.  

Am I going to thoroughly enjoy this food?  IS IT PERFECT?

Is the food you’re “splurging on” amazing?  Take a bite, if not, then move on.  This is not the time to think about starving children in Africa, they won’t get your Cherry Pie.  Move on to something else that you only get during the Holidays.  These are valuable calories, spend them on something you are going to 100% enjoy.  Slyly, trash the rest, or better yet, wipe them onto your husband’s plate - he gets more calories anyway. :)

How do I practice self control with this food? 

Find a way, or get rid of it.  God calls us to self control in every area.  Portion some into a dish, and eat that! No eating from the pan, as tempting as that can be.    Keep from being alone with favorite foods.  Store them out of site - back of the fridge, microwave, cupboard etc.  Eat slowly, enjoying every single bight, put your fork down between bights - whatever it takes to savor it.  

Am I eating this food to solely fill an emotional void? 

This is the danger zone.  The food does not provide nostalgia, is not being used to satisfy legitimate hunger, you’re not really enjoying it, it’s “there” and you’re woofing it down with no self-control -- it’s filling a void!  If you’re waiting to be alone, to eat way too much of it - chances are, it’s filling a void. Call a good friend.  Find something else to keep you busy - read a book, crochet, draw, go for a walk, get out of the house or go to bed. Spend some time with God, pray, meditate, read His word.  Find a great podcast - Tim Keller has excellent messages addressing emotional health.  

Take the emotion and guilt out of food so you can actually enjoy it again.   

A Pre-Holiday Diet, This Dietitian's Favorite Fad

So, the Holidays are here.  This is when everyone stands me up for Nutrition appointments and typical dinner conversation with the Dietitian includes... “for real, how do I drop 10 lbs by the Holidays?”  ummmm, Spanx?  lol.  

So here it is, A Transparent Dietitian’s preferred, quick Holiday/Wedding fix to, “just tell me how to get it off.”  

*drumroll please*  “Eliminate Anything White.” Yup, that’s white sugar (and anything containing it), white flour, white potatoes, white pasta etc.  (many throw in banana too, which DOES happen to be a high-er calorie fruit, but is much like a sweet potato in that it has fiber and a ton of nutrients.  So I wouldn’t put this on the essential list, unless you know you consume massive amounts of banana :) ).  I would add to the diet (although not white) the elimination of fruit juice and the limiting of milk/yogurt to 16 oz a day (non-fat), but not eliminating.

I like this method because its a great jump start, that will hopefully continue into the New Year, you can do it FOREVER, and always lighten up a little as needed for special occasions, without “throwing in the towel” completely.  There’s also no need for damage-control when you’ve reached your goal (Atkins), you rarely have to back-track (weight wise) to re-enter “eating” civilization (because you never leave it), and after “getting used to it,” most can stick to it better than any fad out there.   

The key to weight loss IS calories, BUT, we typically over-eat and incessantly snack on the “white/refined” things. Okay, not typically, ALWAYS!  (i.e. cakes, cookies, pies, chips, sodas/sweetened teas and coffee drinks, white bread, crackers, pasta etc).   I cannot tell you how often I get, “I just eat too much fruit, that’s my problem.” Baaaahahahahaha, no, I promise, that’s not your problem.  Its the other things you’re ignoring and sneaking, that apparently don’t exist if eaten after 10pm or are in the form of a drink.

I have a brother in law who has had great success with this. Using the “Better Plate" as a guide (below), you are not eliminating any major food groups, can sufficiently fuel your body, and cut out the “triggers” that not only bring on extra fat, but extra water and bloating as well.  All the while, increase essential (typically missing) nutrients like whole grains, antioxidants and fiber in the process - all good things.    If you want to tighten the belt even more, you can eliminate ALL grains and still get sufficient carbs and nutrients from milk/yogurt, fruit, beans/lentils and sweet potato, this happens to be my preferred method - no non-sense!

Note - start it now - shed a little weight and water - then lighten it up from Thanksgiving through New Years.   Few things bother me more than someone who says... "no thanks, I’m dieting," at the Thanksgiving table.  No pity.  There are 11 other months of the year to cut calories and shave pounds than the most FUN month to eat in.  It doesn’t mean go over board, with permission to be gluttonous for a month or so - but no restricting either.  If you can maintain your weight through the Holidays and not feel deprived - job well done.  

May the force be with you, and Steven, thanks for the inspiration, great job!